Closure for weatherproof garments.



L. T. SAWYER.

CLOSURE FOR WEATHERPROOF GARMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED DEG.19, 1910.

Patented June 11, 1912.

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LAWRENCE T. SAWYER, OF NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

CLOSURE FOR WEATHERPROOF GARMENTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 19, 1910.

Patented June 11, 1912.

Serial No. 598,010.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LAWRENCE T. SAwYER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Newton, in the county of Middlesex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inClosures for \Veatherproof Garments; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

The present invention relates to closures for garments, and moreparticularly to closures for weatherproof or storm coats.

The objects of the present invention are to produce a closure which willnot only be impervious to rain or wind, but which will also present aneat appearance, be easily fastened by the wearer, and be cheap tomanufacture.

With the above objects in view, the present invention consists in theclosure for weatherproof garments hereinafter described, as particularlypointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings Figure l is a front view of a storm coat inwhich a preferred form of the invention is illustrated as embodied; Fig.2 is a cross-section of the closure taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. l; andFig. 3 is a cross-section similar to that of Fig. 2, but showing theclosure about to be fastened together.

Referring to the drawings, the front opening of the storm coat 1 isformed by inner and outer overlapping side portions 2 and 3 respectivelywhich are secured together by means of buttons 1 on the side portion 2and button holes 5 formed near the edge of the side portion 3, the outersurface of the inner side portion 2 and the inner surface of the outerside portion 3 forming contiguous opposing faces. A long strip 6 offlexible waterproof fabric is attached by a double line of stitching 7along one of its edges to the outer face of the side portion 2 near thefree edge of said side portion, so that the free edge of said strip 6extends backwardly from the free edge of said side portion 2 and has itsunder surface normally lying in contact with the outer face of said sideportion. A second similar strip 8 of flexible waterproof fabric is attached by a double line of stitching 9 along one of its edges to theinner face of the side portion 3 at a distance from the free edge ofsaid side portion somewhat back of the line of buttonholes 5, so thatthe free edge of said strip 8 extends backwardly from the free edge ofsaid side portion 3 and has its under surface normally lying in contactwith the inner face of said side portion. The strips 6 and 8 areprovided with balland-socket fasteners 10 which are adapted to securethem together.

In fastening the above closure together, the strips 6 and 8 are firstturned out from the side portions to which they are sewn to expose theirunder surfaces, as illustrated in Fig. 3, and are secured together bythe ball-and-soeket fasteners 10 with the under surfaces of said stripslying in contact, the term under surfaces as applied to the strips beingemployed to designate the surfaces of the strips which lie in contactwith side portions of the coat when the strips are laid back flat. Theside portion 3 is then drawn over the side portion 2 and buttoned to itin the usual manner by means of the buttons 4. The act of drawing theside portions 2 and 3 over each other will cause the strips 6 and 8 tobe folded in from the turned-out position in which they were fastenedtogether, so that when the side portions 2 and 3 are buttoned togethereach strip will lie back along the side portion to which it is sewn andoverlap the other strip in a direction opposite the overlapping of theside portions 2 and 3, as illustrated in Fig. 2. The strips 6 and 8 thusform a weatherproof interlocking joint impervious to both rain and wind,between the side portions 2 and 3, the free edge of each strip lyingbetween the under surface of the other strip and the side portions towhich said lat tcr strip is sewn. Since after the closure is buttoned upthe strips 6 and 8 are hidden between the opposing faces of the sideportions 2 and 3, the garment will present a neat and attractiveappearance similar to the usual buttoned-over front closure of a coat.

While a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been describedand illustrated as applied to a storm coat, it is to be understood thatthe present invention is equally applicable to other types of garments,and may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the following claims.

1. A closure for weatherproof garments comprising overlapping sideportions, strips attached to the opposing faces of said overlapping sideportions and having free edges normally extending backwardly from thefree edges of said side portions, means for fastening said closureincluding fasteners for securing said strips together with their underfaces lying in contact and fasteners for securing said overlapping sideportions together so that when said side portions are secured togetherthe strips will be folded back along the side portions to which they arerespectively attached and have their free edges overlapping each otherin a direction opposite to the overlapping of the side portions to forman interlocking weather proof joint.

2. A closure for weatherproof garments comprising overlapping sideportions, strips of flexible material sewn to the opposing faces of saidside portions, each strip having one of its edges sewn to one of theside portions and having its free edge normally extending backwardlyfrom the free edge of the side portion to which it is sewn, saidflexible strips being of less width than the opposing faces of saidoverlapping side portions so that they may be entirely concealed betweensaid opposing faces, and means for fasten ing said closure includingfasteners on said strips for securing the strips together with theirunder faces in contact and fasteners for securing the overlapping sideportions together after the strips are fastened together so that theoverlapping side portions will lie flat against each other with the flXlble strips folded back along the side portions to which they arerespectively sewn and with their free edges overlapping each other in adirection opposite to the overlapping of the side portions to form aninterlocking joint entirely concealed between the opposing faces of theside portions.

3. A closure for weatherproof garments comprising two overlapping sideportions, strips of flexible material sewn to the opposing faces of saidside portions, each strip having one of its edges sewn to one of theside portions by a line of stitches somewhat back from the free edge ofsaid side portion and having its free edge normally ex tendingbackwardly from the free edge of the side portion, said flexible stripsbeing of less width than the opposing faces of said overlapping sideportions so that they may be entirely concealed between said opposingfaces, and means for fastening the overlapping side portions together sothat said strips will be folded back along the side portions to whichthey are respectively sewn with their faces lying in contact and withtheir free edges overlapping each other in a direction opposite to theoverlapping of the side portions to form an interlocking joint entirelyconcealed between the opposing faces of the side portions, whereby theclosure presents the appearance of the usual single lap closure both onthe inside and the outside of the garment.

LAWRENCE T. SAWYER.

Witnesses:

HORACE VAN EVEREN, GEORGE E. STEBBINS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

